Suspension Bridges and Naomi

Canopy Walk

Kiulu River

Another bridge!

I can hardly believe that this is the last day of Naomi's three week visit to Sabah. She has had a "taste" of lots of different things that nearly could become a series of books to rival Martine...Naomi goes scuba diving, Naomi goes cycling, Naomi goes into the Jungle, Naomi goes white water rafting etc.....She spent the last few at the Tip of Borneo, relaxing and working on her tan and I joined her on Friday evening after driving through three landslides and a flooded river and we spent a nice relaxing Saturday at the longhouse before leaving early Sunday morning to go white water rafting on the Kiulu River. On Friday there was a huge rainstorm and I've never seen the rivers so high but by Sunday the river level had dropped but it was still flowing very fast and the rapids were much more exciting than the previous time I had done it.

Mother and daughter at Sabah Tea garden

 The strange thing about each of my children coming out to visit me is that we're not used to spending long stretches of time being only the two of us. With five children in a family there is usually at least one other around so it has been a new experience for us all. They may well all be coming back and saying to each other that it was a nightmare being with their mother for so long but I would just like them to know that for me it has  been a joy and pleasure to see them as such interesting, funny and intelligent adults that I am very happy to spend time with. I love you and I'll miss you Naomi.

Leeches, Cockroaches and Bird Shit

The ticket collector

Leeches

Monitor Lizard

 So it was off again to the Kinabatangan River to show Naomi the jungle corridor where last April Gen and I were lucky enough to see elephants and orangutans. We arrived and the French people staying had been lucky enough to see two orangutans very close, the day before. We went out on the river at dusk, then the night cruise and then the dawn cruise and nothing except macaque and proboscis monkeys. I do feel sorry for the other monkeys as no one really cares about them when we all want to see are the stars of the show! The next trip was the jungle trek to the ox-bow lake when Tanya and I had been lucky enough to have a close encounter with Olga the orangutan last October. Maybe this would be our lucky time but no instead we were attacked by leeches. I've never seen so many and they all were out to get on us and suck our blood. We thought we weren't touching any and yet they somehow found a way to get on us.If you have never touched a leech before they are very sticky and the only way to get them off is roll and flick but if you don't want to touch them then it is a problem. We had them down our boots, on my camera, in our hair, on our backs, up our arms and all over our legs- ugh! We set off again on the dusk cruise and then finally the dawn cruise and still nothing except macaque and proboscis monkeys. Never mind, we were going on to Sepliok Rehabilitation Centre afterwards although seeing them in the wild is very thrilling.

Proboscis monkeys

 We decided to stop off at the Gomontong Caves on our way which is famous for the harvesting of birds' nests and of David Attenborough gagging from the suffocating smell of bat and bird shit on the TV. We arrived and there at the entrance of the cave was a wild female orangutan  and toddler sitting looking like they were collecting tickets. We couldn't believe it and they seemed very happy sitting and watching what was going on.How lucky were we except we'd left our cameras in the car. Anyway we went into the cave which was very different to the last time Patrick and I visited as they were harvesting and there were rope ladders and ropes hundreds of feet in the air with these men taking the nests. The smell is really overpowering and there are millions of cockroaches running all over the bird shit.The swallows were flying around frantically and although the nests are supposed to be harvested before the eggs are laid there were smashed eggs everywhere and we both managed to get either ? or ? on us. Oh that is why everyone is wearing protected hats we realised! Fortunately the orangutans were still there when we came out and I ran back to get my camera but of course missed all the perfect shots. Anyway, it didn't matter as we will have that memory forever.

Naomi's first week in Borneo

   

The view from our chalet

     So we arrived like good parents on time thinking we would be there waiting for Naomi coming through the gate like all those scenes in films but she had arrived early and was waiting for us instead. Not to worry, she was fine - tired. pale but pleased to be in Sabah. We spent our first night in KK and then in the morning headed up towards Ranau with a surprise stop for Naomi on the way. We had booked to see the feeding time of four young orphan orang utans who are part of the rehabilitation programme in Sepliok but are based in Rasa Ria a VERY expensive hotel along the coast. Of course it was touristy and can't compare to seeing them in the wild but they were so cute especially the two year old who was showing off all his tricks just like any toddler would do and after a while got rather tired and wanted a hug from his human daddy. Another drive up the mountain and we were back in Ranau. The first night Naomi crept into my room to say there was a very large green cicada in her bedroom making a lot of noise and it was! We managed to catch it with a sieve and get it outside but poor Naomi thought that was "normal" life in Borneo and had listened to the deafening noise for ages.

Naomi and Andrew

Andrew and me

   Anyway the next day I decided to have a small party for family and friends as a belated birthday celebration. I had asked Lungkiam from the homestay to do the cooking as last year when I had done simple egg sandwiches etc... there was a problem for my muslim friends as it wasn't halaal and I had touched the food. So everyone was happy this year and we had lots of delicious food and many of the teachers brought their families too. Andrew and Naomi were able to meet some of my  teachers and have an idea who on earth I'm going on about. On Friday we headed down the mountain again on our way to Manana which is a place I have talked about many times before. We had a lovely relaxing weekend swimming, reading, chatting etc. and sadly Sunday afternoon came far too quickly when Andrew had to leave. He will have a week in Kuala Lumpur and then a day in Bangkok before he flies back to France - the end of the nearly three month trip being over.

ps. I seemed to have 'lost' my other photos of orang utans and birthday party for now!

Another one on its way!

Mount Kinabalu again!

 This is going to be a very short post today as we're getting ready for Naomi's arrival tomorrow. Andrew arrived back in Sabah last Thursday leaving Mongolia in thick snow and arriving to a hot sticky Sabah. We spent a very nice relaxing weekend in Ranau with both of us trying to finish work so that we can be freer when Naomi arrives tomorrow at 7.30 pm. Naomi is the fourth out of five of our children to visit and I really have been so lucky to have so many visitors during quite a short time in Sabah and by luck rather than any great planning Andrew will be here as well for this week.  I left for work at 6.45 this morning and returned at 4pm to a lovely clean house. Whenever I hear women going on about how men don't clean as well as they do I just say to myself "you don't know my husband!"  Thank you Andrew for the transformation - much appreciated.

Sunset

Coincidences and Images of Laos

Luang Prabang meaning Big Budha

The night market

Selling delicious goodies for breakfast

Sunset on the Mekong

    So it was back to work yesterday while most of you were enjoying a long weekend and despite the long journey of a ten hour bus ride, the flight to Kuala Lumpur, then KK and then finally the drive up the mountain, I felt invigorated and rested after my lovely visit to Laos People's Democratic Republic. I felt that I knew very little of Laos' history except that I have been a fan of Colin Cotterill's detective books featuring Dr. Siri, which is set in Laos and I realised that some of that knowledge had stuck but certainly not enough. His latest book "Slash and Burn" highlights the terrible damage, destruction and bombs dumped by the Americans during the Vietnam war despite Laos being a neutral country.There are still many people today who lose limbs or their lives from the cluster bombs, despite the government insisting  they are all cleared. There are over 50 ethnic groups and it has been a Socialist country since the long bloody civil war between the Royal Lao Army and the Communist Pathet Lao. They finally won in 1975 (with the help of Russia) and captured the King and made him work in the padi fields. Strangely, his Palace is now a museum in Luang Prabang and has been left exactly as it was and the people don't appear to bear him any grudge nowadays. It was a French protectorate from 1893 until 1953 and the French influence is still very prevalent and les baguettes and les Francais too. I think there has been a lot of discrimination and ill treatment of the Hmong hill tribe in the past but as a tourist passing through for a week I was touched by their friendliness and warmth and appreciated their very laid back approach to us tourists.

A master weaver at work

Natural dyes on the line

 Paper objects made from mulberry bark

 As I was standing in the queue to check in at Laos airport ,I heard the unmistakeable accent of someone from Northern Ireland and after staring some more I realised that I had met this person. It was Geraldine, who was a great friend and colleague of Jane's, who died last year. We had met very briefly at Jane's house on New Year's Eve and if she hadn't spoken I wouldn't have known her. Anyway it was lovely to meet her and we were able to have a long chat about the tragic death of Jane and how everyone in her family were coping and how she and Jane's close friends were managing without her. It is a small world and we will definitely keep in touch now that fate threw us together.

Not sure how safe it is!

Monk roofers at work